Forest of the Dead
by CrazyViolinist
Summary: The Library is getting more dangerous by the minute. The Doctor and those who are left are desperately trying to figure out how to get out. But one thing no one knows is that Strackman Lux is hiding something important. [This is the third story in my Jenny Universe]
1. Chapter 1

**AN - I'm sorry I didn't post this yesterday, but my computer who being weird and I couldn't access my account. I do not own any of the Doctor Who characters. The only thing I own are the words coming out of Jenny's mouth. Hope you enjoy the conclusion of the adventure in The Library.**

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The scared group of 6 ran down hallway after hallway and just when it seemed like they were going to get out, the darkness blotted out the last bit of light in front of them. They came to a dead stop as Proper Dave's now infested spacesuit advanced on them saying, "Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Jenny sagged against her dad's chest, tears still coursing down her face as the 'Donna' node could still be faintly heard in the background saying, "Donna Noble has left The Library. Donna Noble has been saved." She weakly pulled at her dad's arms, half wanting to be free, but at the same time she didn't want to leave his arms. The Doctor lightened his grip on her as he stared blankly as the swarm-infested suit got closer. He could hear River asked him what they were going to do, but he really had no idea at the moment; he was still reeling from the shock of seeing Donna's face on a node. Next to him, River thought quickly and pulled out the squareness gun again and fired it making a nice hole through the wall for them to escape. "This way! Quickly, move!" she said ushering everyone through the hole. They weaved through more corridors until the finally found a room that had a huge circle in the ceiling and was shining light into the center of the room. "Ok, we've got a clear spot." said River moving everyone to the circle of light. "In, in, in! Right in the center; in the middle of the light, quickly. Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor…"

"I'm doing it." he said as he gave Jenny's arm a soothing rub before he pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He began to scan the shadows around them. "Sunset's coming." commented River as she looked at the sky above. "We can't stay long. Have you found a live one?" she asked The Doctor.

"Maybe. It's getting harder to tell. What's wrong with you?" he said in frustration as his screwdriver started going wonky.

"Ok. We're going to need a chicken leg." said River. Who's got a chicken leg?" Other Dave gave a sigh and pulled out a chicken leg from his suit. He had been saving it for a snack later, but seeing as how there's might not _be_ a later, the leg could be used for something else. "Thanks Dave." said River slightly out of breath. Anita watched the leg pass from Other Dave to River she noticed Jenny sitting on the floor with her knees to her chest. She scooted closer to the younger girl. "Hey. Are you alright?" she asked.

"She's gone. I can't believe she's gone." said Jenny, the tears finally stopping.

"Well, maybe she's not. You never know." said Anita.

"What do you mean?" asked Jenny.

"Maybe, that wasn't really her you saw on the node. Maybe it was someone who just looked a lot like her." consoled Anita.

"No, that's not possible, The Doctor said that…" said Jenny.

"Forget about what The Doctor said. He's not right all the time; he doesn't know everything that's out there in the Universe. If he did, then he would know how to escape from here, right?." said Anita. Jenny just nodded her head in casual agreement. "You know, my grandfather used to say, 'Never loose hope. Cause without it we are laying down without a fight and where's the fun in that.' Funny little saying, but it was one of his strongest beliefs. In fact, it was the last thing he said before he started ghosting." Jenny looked over at Anita and gave a small smile.

"It is a funny saying, but it works." said Jenny. Anita just smiled in return. "Thank you." continued Jenny after a moment of silence.

"Ok, ok. We've got a hot one." announced River as she quickly moved back from the shadow. "Watch your feet." she said sitting next to Jenny in a slightly protective way.

"They won't attack until there's enough of them. But they've got our scent now. They're coming." said The Doctor moving to another patch of darkness.

"Who is he?" whispered Other Dave to River. "You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him."

"He's The Doctor." River replied.

"And who is The Doctor?" asked Strackman.

"He's the most fantastical man you will ever meet in the whole universe." said Jenny holding her head up, proud to be The Doctor's daughter at this moment.

"And that is the only story you'll ever tell… if you survive him." continued River.

"You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are." said Anita.

"Listen, all you need to know is this… I'd trust that man to the end of the universe. And, actually, we've been." said River

"He doesn't act like he trusts you." continued Anita.

"Yeah. There's a tiny problem… he hasn't met me yet." With River got up and returned to The Doctor's side. "What the hell does that mean?" asked Other Dave.

"It means they were supposed to or are officially going to first meet later on in future; later on in their own private timelines, but, River is much farther along in her timeline than The Doctor is. So therefore, River knows The Doctor but The Doctor has no idea who River is." explained Jenny. The other three just looked at her. "Basic time travel logic." she simply said, but was still getting blank looks from the others. "Never mind." she said standing up and moving over to The Doctor and River. "No wonder you point and laugh at archaeologists dad. They're completely daft. Except for you River." said Jenny quickly adding the last part when River raised her eyebrow at her.

"No you're right love, especially about that lot. They wouldn't even be able to get the simplest of time travel logic." said River with a smirk. The Doctor only half listened to their conversation as his screwdriver began to go all wonky. He drew the attention of River and Jenny as he held the sonic device up to his ear. "What's wrong with it?" asked River.

"There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it." he replied.

"Use the red settings." said River.

"It doesn't have a red setting." replied The Doctor looking back at her in confusion.

"Well, use the dampers." continued River.

"It doesn't have dampers." said The Doctor in bewilderment.

"It will do one day." said River holding out her sonic screwdriver. The Doctor stood up and looked River in the eye while he took the screwdriver from her. "So sometime in the future, I just give you my screwdriver." he said.

"Yeah." River replied.

"And why would I do that?" he asked.

"I didn't pluck it from your cold, dead hands if that's what you're worried about." she said.

"And I know that because…" he said.

"Listen to me… you've lost your friend. You're angry, I understand, but you need to be less emotional, Doctor, right now." said River in a strict voice.

"Less em… I'm not emotional." said The Doctor flabbergasted.

"There are six people in this room, still alive and one of them is your daughter, focus on that. Dear god, you're hard work young." she retorted.

"Young? Who are you!" yelled The Doctor.

"Shut it!" yelled Jenny causing both of them to look at her.

"She's right, look at the pair of you. We're all going to die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple!" yelled Strackman. The Doctor looked at River, his mind suddenly racing with the possibility that she was actually his future wife. River saw that look and gave a sigh. "Doctor." she said softly. "One day, I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you and I'm sorry. I'm really, very sorry." With that River leaned in and whispered something into The Doctor's ear. Jenny's worry over what River was telling her dad rose even more when she saw a look of shock come over The Doctor's face. River pulled away and looked The Doctor in the eyes. "Are we good?" she asked, but she got no reply from him. "Doctor, are we good?" she tried again.

"Yeah." he said barely above a whisper. "Yeah, we're good."

"Good." finished River with a nod as she took back her sonic screwdriver and walked away.

"What did she say?" asked Jenny in worry, but all The Doctor did was shake his head no and lead her back into the circle of fading light. "Know what's interesting about my screwdriver?" he said suddenly changing the subject pacing around the outside of the light circle. "Very hard to interfere with; practically nothing's strong enough. Well, some hair dryers, but I'm working on that. So, there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere and it wasn't there before, so what's new? What's changed?" Everyone looked at each other and around the room scanning for anything new. "Come on! What's new? What's different?" shouted The Doctor when no one answered him.

"I don't know. Nothing. It's getting dark." said Other Dave.

"It's a screwdriver. It works in the dark." said The Doctor leveling a stare on Other Dave. "Moonrise." he suddenly said looking up at the sky. "Tell me about the moon. What's there?" he said looking over at Strackman.

"It's not real. It was built as part of The Library." he replied. "It's just a Dr. Moon." Jenny snapped her head toward Strackman when he said that. "But that's the same name as…" she whispered to herself.

"What's a Dr. Moon?" asked The Doctor.

"A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet." continued Strackman.

"Well, it's still active." said The Doctor holding up the sonic screwdriver as it began to pulse steadily. "It's signaling. Someone, somewhere, in this library is alive and communicating with the moon or possibly alive and drying their hair." He put the device to his ear. "No, the signal is definitely coming from the moon." he said turning the device parallel with the floor and trying to get a better angle to hear what was wrong. "I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through."

"Doctor." suddenly said River as she took a step back. Everyone turned to see what she was looking at. Jenny and The Doctor's faces lit up like a child on Christmas morning. "Donna!" they both yelled excitedly for there, in front of them, the sonic screwdriver was projecting a live image of one Donna Noble. The image lasted only a few seconds but it was enough to give The Doctor and Jenny a massive surge of hope; they were going to get out of here.

"Doctor, that was your friend. What was that?" asked River.

"Can you get her back?" said Jenny, restraining the urge to rip the screwdriver from her father's hands.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on." said The Doctor fiddling with the device. "I'm trying to find the wavelength. Argh! I'm being blocked!" he yelled in frustration.

"What do you mean your being blocked? Get her back." yelled Jenny.

"I'm trying." The Doctor yelled back.

"Well, try harder." said Jenny.

"This really isn't as easy as it looks you know." he retorted.

"Then give it to me and I'll give it a try." said Jenny reaching for the screwdriver, but The Doctor deflected the grab. "No. _You_ are not allowed to use this." he said.

"What? You let River use it." argued Jenny.

"Yeah, well… that's a special circumstance." said The Doctor.

"Oh and getting Donna back isn't a special circumstance." retorted Jenny.

"Will both of you just stop it. God, _both_ of you are tough when you're younger." interjected River.

"Professor." came Anita's wavering voice.

"Just a moment." called back River without taking her eyes off the time traveling father and daughter.

"It's important." said Anita again. "I have two shadows."


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone spun around at those 4 words only to see that Anita was right… there were two shadows attached to her. "Ok, helmets on, everyone. Anita, I'll get yours." said River bending down and picking up Anita's helmet.

"It didn't do Proper Dave any good." commented Anita as tears began to trail down her face.

"Just keep it together, ok?" said River.

"I'm keeping it together. I'm only crying. I'm about to die. It's not an overreaction." she replied as River gently placed the helmet on her head.

"It's going to be ok. Remember what you told me your grandfather said, about hope." said Jenny coming closer to Anita.

"Yeah, but it's a bit harder to believe when your in the thick of it." said Anita with a sad smile. Jenny returned the smile as the helmet sealed into place. "Hang on." said The Doctor. He aimed the screwdriver at Anita's helmet and the visor went black.

"Oh, god. They've got inside." gasped River.

"No, no, no. I've just tinted her visor." explained The Doctor. "Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone."

"Do you think they can be fooled like that?" asked River.

"Maybe, I don't know." he replied. "It's a swarm. It's not like we chat."

"Can you still see in there?" Other Dave asked Anita.

"Just about." she replied. Everyone began to move closer to Anita but The Doctor stopped them. "Just… just… just stay back. Professor, a quick word please." he said.

"What?" said River.

"Down here." he continued as he knelt on the ground in front of Anita.

"What is it?" River asked again kneeling beside him.

"Like you said, there are six people still alive in this room." he explained.

"Yeah, so?" she said.

"Then, why are there seven." said The Doctor. He and River's heads quickly turned behind them and saw a lone suit standing silently near the wall. It was the swarm suit. "Hey! Who turned out the lights?" the suit said.

"Run!" yelled The Doctor without a second thought. He grabbed hold of Jenny's hand as they all ran from the room with the swarm suit repeating its phrase over and over again. Jenny tightened her grip on her dad's hand. Sure she had wanted to travel with him and Donna, but at this particular moment she couldn't remember why; all she could think about was this fear that was constantly clawing at her. She loved running but she was getting sick of it. She wanted it to stop; she wanted Donna back. She wanted out of this deadly library. They rounded more corners than Jenny could remember until they finally stopped to catch their breath. She looked over at her dad and River as they tried to turn on a few lights in the corridor. "Dr. Moon." mumbled Jenny. "Maybe… he can help."

"What you say, Jenny?" asked The Doctor casting a quick glance back at her. "No, don't!" he yelled as Jenny closed her eyes tight. He grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to get her eyes open. "Jenny, open your eyes. Open your eyes right now. Jenny." he started softly but his voice grew louder when Jenny didn't respond. Jenny on the other hand, was standing next to the little girl who was watching TV. The only weird thing was it was a picture of them, the group of six sitting in the hallway with her dad trying to wake her up. But she didn't notice all that as she yelled out, "All right! I know you know what's going on. I know you're a computer program, Dr. Moon. Show yourself! What have you done to Donna?! Answer me damn it!" At that exact moment the little girl changed the channel on the TV and Jenny saw Donna walking into a room. Jenny didn't have any time to say anything else as she was suddenly standing in the same room as Donna. "Donna!" she yelled running forward to hug Donna, but she just ran right through her friend. "Ook… that was weird." mumbled Jenny.

"She can't hear, see, or touch you." said Dr. Moon suddenly appearing next to Jenny.

"What does that mean? What have you done to her?" yelled Jenny reaching over to hit Dr. Moon, but he disappeared almost as quickly as he had appeared.

"Oh, no you don't! Get back here! I know you can hear me! What have you done to Donna!" yelled Jenny but got no answer. She was going to continue her rant when a little girl jumped up from a table and moved over to Donna talking excitedly. "Mummy, I made you!" That took Jenny aback; Donna didn't have any children, at least that she knew of.

"Ooh, that's nice, Ella." commented Donna looking at the child's clay person Ella had sculpted. "Where's the face?"

"I don't know." said little Ella as Donna placed two hot cups of tea on a table. "Did you see Dr. Moon? Did he leave?" Donna asked little Ella and a small boy that was still sitting at the table coloring. Neither had time to answer as a man walked through the door. Both children jumped in happiness. "Daddy!" they squealed as they ran up to him and gave him big hugs.

"Hey, hello, you two, come here. Big hugs, big daddy hugs." said the man as he gave each of the children a kiss.

"Look what I made." said Ella showing her dad the clay doll she had made.

"Oh, it's mummy?" said the man.

"Uh, it hasn't got a face." said Donna with a smile. "Did you see Dr. Moon?" she asked the man.

"No why, was he here?" he replied.

"Yeah, just a second ago. I can't believe you didn't see him on your up, Lee." Donna said as she gave her husband (who's name was Lee) a quick kiss and then went over to the window looking for Dr. Moon. But all she saw was a woman all dressed head to toe in black staring back up at her, before walking away. Donna stared in confusion at the woman. "Are you all right?" asked Lee causing Donna snap out of her thoughts.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…" said Donna in confusion.

"Just…" prompted Lee.

"Nothing." said Donna with a laugh as she turned and hugged Lee. "It's been a long day that's all. I'm just tired." Suddenly Jenny found herself in a bedroom and noticed that Donna was in what appeared to be pajamas. She looked outside and noticed that it was dark out. "But how can that be?" she asked herself. "It was light a moment ago."

"Are you ok?" Lee asked Donna, who looked just as confused as Jenny.

"I said I was tired and… and we put the kids to bed and we watched television." said Donna. The start of her sentence made Jenny grow excited; maybe Donna was seeing that something was very wrong with this whole thing. But she let out a frustrated yell when Donna convinced herself that everything was fine. "No, Donna. You didn't do any of that stuff. Come on, snap out of it." Jenny went up and hit Donna on the back of the head, only her hand went right through Donna's head. At that moment there was a squeak from downstairs. "Was that a letter?" asked Donna in shock.

"No, it's midnight." said Lee in confusion.

"Go and see what it is." said Donna. Lee headed downstairs while Donna walked over to the window. There she watched the same woman in black she had seen earlier walking away from their door. The woman turned back for a moment and stared up at Donna, who was so entranced by her that she failed to hear Lee walk up behind her. "The world is wrong." he read.

"What?" asked Donna turning to see her husband holding the letter.

"For you. Weird, though. 'Dear Donna, the world is wrong. Meet me at your usual play park, 2:00 tomorrow.'" he read. Donna took the note from his hands and walked back to the window. Lee came up behind her and they both watched as the woman in black moved away down the sidewalk. "Nutter." muttered Donna.

"Donna," said Jenny coming up to stand next to her friend. "I know this seems real, but it's not. Please, go meet this person. They can help you. Donna, please."

"She can't hear you." said a new voice in the room. Jenny gave a start and turned around to come face to face with Dr. Moon. "It is pointless to try."

"I don't care… I'll try for as long as it takes to get her out of this world." said Jenny glaring at the man.

"Why would you want to do that?" asked Dr. Moon.

"Because this world is fake!" she yelled.

"How do you know that? How do you know that this isn't the real world and your living in the fake one?" questioned Dr. Moon.

"Because time doesn't jump instantly to another part of the day where you can't remember getting to that point. Time may be wibbily wobbily, but not that wibbily wobbily. This world is a dream and Donna will get out." said Jenny turning back to Donna. "Donna, hear me, please, go to the park."

"I think it's time for you to leave. You're father's worried about you." said Dr. Moon.

"No! Donna, please, the park, go to the park." cried Jenny as Dr. Moon snapped his fingers and they were back in the house with the little girl watching TV. "Take me back. Take me back right now!" yelled Jenny as she went to hit Dr. Moon, who simply caught her hand.

"It is for her own good." he tried to explain.

"Like hell it is." Jenny said as she tried to kick Dr. Moon but was once again blocked. "If you hurt her…"

"She is safe, nothing can hurt her in there." he said calmly.

"Oh and I'm just supposed to take your word for it." she said trying to pull away.

"She is safe from the horrors that are in The Library. Once the horrors have been eliminated, she and everyone else will be returned. We mean no harm, we just want to save as many as possible." Dr. Moon explained. Jenny gave a small 'yeah right' laugh. "If our intension was to hurt Miss Donna Noble would we have not already done so. Instead, we have given her a family and a safe place to live."

"You keep saying 'we'. Why?" asked Jenny who was no longer struggling, realizing that some of what Dr. Moon had said made sense.

"I am not the only one that keeps those who have been saved… safe. Now it's time to open your eyes." The last thing Jenny saw before leaving the living room was Donna on the TV sitting on a bench at the park talking to the woman in black. Then she was staring into her father's worried face.

Meanwhile, the whole time Jenny was in the other 'world', The Doctor and the others had problems of their own. The Doctor was kneeling in front of Jenny trying to get her eyes open, but when that didn't work they just tried to make her comfortable on the hard floor. "How long has she been with you?" asked River.

"4 days." replied The Doctor as he soniced Jenny to see if anything was going horribly wrong.

"You did the right thing you know." said River after a few seconds of silence. "About letting her come with you." she clarified when he looked at her confused. "She is your second half, your _permanent_ second half. She's still running the 'show' when we…"

"Spoilers." interrupted The Doctor.

"This is one spoiler that you need to hear." she replied. "Jenny loves you more than anything else and will be with you till the very end." River smiled over at The Doctor while she brushed some hair out of Jenny's face. The Doctor watched River interact with his unconscious daughter; he couldn't help but notice how motherly she was being toward Jenny. Without being told he know that in the years to come Jenny and Professor River Song would become very close. The Doctor was about to say something when Strackman yelled out. "It's coming!" Everyone turned and saw that the swarm-infested suit was in deed closing in on them. "Run!" yelled The Doctor as he scooped up Jenny in his arms bridal style and they all took off again. They began weaving around corners again trying to put a fair amount of distance between them and the suit. But it wasn't working. The suit seemed to be getting faster, it was learning by the second. They finally entered a room and The Doctor skidded to a stop. "Professor, go ahead. Find a safe spot." he said handing his daughter over to Other Dave.

"It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit. You can't reason with it!" she yelled.

"Five minutes." he replied. River rolled her eyes. "Other Dave, stay with him. Pull him out when he's too stupid to leave." she said. Other Dave passed Jenny off to Strackman who looked insulted, but the moment River's glare settled on him he quickly changed his attitude. "Two minutes, Doctor." said River as she and Anita fled the room.

"Lux." said The Doctor as the man in question turned around. "If you let anything happen to my daughter, there is nowhere in the universe or time that you can hide from me." Strackman's eyes grew large as he gave a quick nod of his head and ran after the others. Not even a second after Strackman ran off the swarm suit burst through the door saying it's mantra, "Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"You hear that… those words?" said The Doctor running up to the suit. "That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit, before you climbed inside it and stripped his flesh. That's a man's soul, trapped inside a neural relay going round and round forever. Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this, use him, talk to me. It's easy, neural relay… just point and think. Use him to talk to me."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" said the suit.

"The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?" asked The Doctor.

"We should go, Doctor!" called out Other Dave.

"In a minute." he replied with a wave of his hand. "You came to a library to hunt. Why? Just tell me why." said The Doctor to the suit. The suit stopped advancing and stood still for a minute. The Doctor and Other Dave held their breath until the swarm spoke. "We, did, not."

"Oh, hello." said The Doctor.

"We, did, not." the swarm said again.

"Take it easy. You'll get the hang of it." The Doctor encouraged. "Did not what?"

"We did not, come, here." said the swarm.

"Well, of course you did. Of course you came here." said The Doctor in confusion.

"We come _from_ here." specified the swarm.

"From here?" asked The Doctor.

"We hatched here." the swarm said.

"But you hatched from trees, from spores in trees." asked from The Doctor.

"Theses are our forests." said the swarm.

"You're nowhere near a forest, look around you." said The Doctor stepping closer to the suit.

"These are our forests." repeated the swarm.

"But you're not _in_ a forest. You're in a library. There are no trees in a… library". The Doctor came to an abrupt stop and gave a knowing gasp.

"We should go. Doctor!" came Other Dave's voice from behind him, but The Doctor ignored him. "Books." he said looking around. "You came in the books. Microspores in a million million books."

"We should go. Doctor!" Other Dave called out again, but once again The Doctor ignored him. "Oh, look at that." he said. 'The forests of the Vashta Nerada, pulped, printed, and bound. A million, million books, hatching shadows."

"We should go. Doctor!" came Other Dave's voice again, but this time it caught The Doctor's. That was the third time Other Dave had said that and the way he said it sounded just like the others when… The Doctor turned around sharply and stared at Other Dave to see that he was right… Other Dave was ghosting.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ohhh. Dave. Oh, Dave, I'm so sorry." said The Doctor walking across the room to the other suit swarm. Suddenly the mantra of 'Hey! Who turned out the lights?' and 'We must go. Doctor.' filled the room. Both suits began to slowly converge on The Doctor. "Thing about me." he said looking back and forth at the swarms. "I'm stupid. I talk too much. Always babbling on, this gob doesn't stop for anything, just ask my daughter. Want to know the only reason I'm still alive? Always stay near the door." At that moment he held up his sonic screwdriver and a trap door directly underneath him gave way. From the swarm suits' perspective it looked as though he had fallen to his death, but really The Doctor was able to grab onto the pipes running under the room. Very carefully he made his way to the other side and climbed up. He pulled out his screwdriver and set it to locate River's screwdriver. While he was making his way to them, River was using her sonic device to make sure that the shadows in the room they were occupying were unaffected. "You know, it's funny. I keep wishing The Doctor was here." commented River.

"The Doctor is here, isn't he?" asked Anita who was standing behind River. "He… he's coming back, right?"

"As long as we have Jenny he'll always come back." said River with a soft smile as she stared over at Jenny propped up against table. "The thing is," she continued her voice turning sad and longing as she stood up to face Anita. "You know how when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them? It's like they're not quite… finished, they're… they're not done yet. Well, yes, The Doctor's here. He came when I called, just like he always does, but not my Doctor. Now my Doctor… I've seen whole armies turn and run away and he'd just swagger off back to his Tardis and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor, in the Tardis… next stop everywhere."

"Spoilers." came The Doctor's voice from behind. River turned sharply and saw him standing on a staircase. "Nobody can open a Tardis by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that." he said coming down to meet them.

"It does for The Doctor." said River.

"I _am_ The Doctor." he commented as he walked over to Jenny.

"Yeah, someday." said River saying the last word quietly. The Doctor knelt down in front of his daughter and he frowned. "She still hasn't opened her eyes."

"No and Strackman said she was muttering things while we were running." said River giving The Doctor some space as he checked over his daughter. At that moment, Jenny's eyes flew open and she stared into her father's worried face. "Are you ok?" he asked her.

"Yeah. Dad, I saw Donna." said Jenny her voice getting excited. "She's in this alternate reality thing and they said that she'd been saved. That everyone had been saved."

"Who said, Jenny?" patiently asked The Doctor.

"This guy named Dr. Moon. I think he's the personal representation of the virus checker. But dad, we have to get Donna out of there."

"We will, but first we have to get ourselves out." said The Doctor as he began to turn away but changed his mind and glared down at his daughter. "Oh and Jenny… that was the last time your closing your eyes unless you want to have another long talk with me about jumping into things."

"Whatever you say, dad." said Jenny as she stood up. The Doctor gave a nod of his head and made his way over to Anita. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"Where's Other Dave?" interjected River suddenly realizing the absences of the man.

"Not coming. Sorry." The Doctor said never taking his eyes off of Anita.

"Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they taken me yet?" asked Anita.

"I don't know." said The Doctor looking down at Anita's two shadows. "Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference."

"It's making a difference, all right. No one's ever going to see my face again." said Anita and you could hear the tears in her voice.

"Can I get you anything?" asked The Doctor.

"An old age would be nice." said Anita with a small laugh. "Anything you can do?"

"I'm all over it." said The Doctor turning away but Anita's voice stopped him. "Doctor…" she said. "When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song, then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far, I could do with a word like that. What did she say?" But The Doctor remained silent as he looked at the darkened visor. "Give a dead girl a break." Anita softly chuckled. "Your secrets are safe with me."

"Safe." suddenly said The Doctor.

"What?" asked Anita.

"Safe. You don't say, 'saved'. Nobody says 'saved'. You say 'safe'. The data fragment… what did it say?" he yelled out turning around and looking over at Strackman.

"4,022 people save. No survivors." Strackman recited.

"Doctor?" asked River.

"Nobody says 'saved'. Nutters say 'saved'. You say 'safe'." muttered The Doctor.

"Are you calling me a nutter?" said Jenny giving her father an amused glare.

"But, you see, it didn't mean 'safe'." continued The Doctor ignoring Jenny. "It meant… it literally meant… saved!"

"What do you mean?" asked Strackman. The Doctor ran over to a nearby computer station and pulled up an energy reading from when the Library shut down 100 years ago. "See? There it is. Right there." he said pointing to the diagram on the computer as everyone crowded around him. "A hundred years ago a massive power surge, all the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tried to teleport everyone out."

"It tried to teleport 4,022 people?" asked River.

"Succeeded. Pulled them all out." confirmed The Doctor. "But them what? Nowhere to send them; nowhere safe in the whole Library with Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4,022 people, all beamed up and nowhere to go and they're stuck in the system. Waiting to be sent, like e-mails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"

"It saved them." said River with a smile, fully understanding what The Doctor was hinting at. The Doctor gave a nod of his head, but when he looked at the rest of his audience he could tell they were confused. "Okay." he said going over to a table, pushing books out of the way. "The Library." he said drawing a big circle on the table and a smaller one in the middle with a marker. "Whole world of books and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copied of every single book. The computer saved 4,022 people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive." It was at that moment that a symphony of alarms blared through the room and a red light began flashing. Jenny may not have known very much about some things, but she did know that when a red light was flashing with alarms sounding, it was never a good thing. "What is it? What's wrong?" asked Strackman.

"Autodestruct enabled in 20 minutes." said an automated voice above the alarms. The Doctor ran to a near by computer and watched as a clock began to count backwards from 20:00. "What's maximum erasure?" asked River looking at the words on the computer screen.

"20 minutes, this planet's going to crack like an egg." elaborated The Doctor.

"That doesn't sound very good." nervously mumbled Jenny as she scooted closer to The Doctor.

"No." suddenly said Strackman. "No, it's all right. The Doctor Moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect CAL." Almost as soon as he had said that all the computers went black.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" yelled The Doctor as he frantically tried to turn the computer back on anyway he could.

"All Library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for the inconvenience. Sorry for the inconvenience." came another automated voice above the noise of the alarms. The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and proceeded to turn off the voice which was making everyone even more frantic than they already were. "We need to stop this. We've got to save CAL!" yelled Strackman.

"What is it? What is CAL?" asked The Doctor looking directly into Strackman's eyes.

"Oh my god. Is CAL the little girl?" asked Jenny suddenly.

"We need to get down to the main computer. I'll show you." said Strackman urgently completely ignoring Jenny's question.

"It's at the core of the planet." said The Doctor already beginning to work out how to get down there. "Well, then…" said River calmly. "Let's go." With that River pulled out her own sonic screwdriver and walked over to the center of the room where a circle pattern lay on the floor. She aimed the sonic at the largest circle in the middle and it split open to reveal a metal disc underneath. From the hole that was now in the floor a blue column of light was streaming from it and Jenny could swear she felt a pulse coming from the light. "Gravity platform." simply stated River as she turned to The Doctor.

"I bet I like you." he said jumping down from the computer station.

"Oh, you do." she replied with a playful smirk as she stepping onto the metal disc. The Doctor stared at River with a small smile on his face before he quickly ushered his daughter and everyone else on the disc. Jenny personally did not enjoy the trip down to the core. Once she had stepped through the blue light she had felt heavy and felt a weird friction around her. It also was very hard to move, which was her real problem. She wanted to be able to move quickly if something happened; she felt trapped. Thank goodness the ride down wasn't too long considering they were traveling very rapidly downward. Once they had reached the bottom, ran a little, and reached the control center, they still had 15 minutes left before the 'egg cracked'. "The data core." said The Doctor looking up at a huge sphere of energy that was pulsing and glowing orange with blue electricity bolts coming from it. "Over 4,000 living minds trapped inside it." The Doctor continued.

"Yeah, well, they won't be living much longer." commented Jenny, indicating that her dad needed to hurry up.

"She's right, we're running out of time." said River. The Doctor didn't say anything, he only ran in the next room, which housed all of the computers. Jenny began to follow but stopped cold when she heard a desperate voice crying, "Please help me. Please, please help me."

"Jenny, keep up!" The Doctor yelled back to her.

"Did you hear that?" she yelled back as she herself ran forward.

"Hear what?" asked Anita.

"That voice calling for help." said Jenny.

"What voice?" River asked as they all skidded to a stop in front of one of the computers, when suddenly the desperate voice called out again. "Help me. Please help me."

"That voice." said Jenny looking around for the source of the voice.

"What's that? Was that a child?" asked River.

"The computer's in sleep mode." said The Doctor not paying any attention to any one else. "I can't wake it up. I'm trying." he continued as he pressed all the buttons on the keyboard. Suddenly Jenny through her hands over her ears; there was too much noise. It sounded as if a room full of electric toys had been turned on. "Jenny. What's wrong?" asked River as Jenny cringed trying to get away from the noise.

"Stop it!" she yelled.

"Jenny, there is no noise." said Anita trying to comfort her. Jenny looked up at the two of them her eyes pleading for them to make it stop, then she looked over at her father and noticed something interesting. Every time he tapped the keyboard another sound entered the mix. Suddenly everything seemed to click in her mind. The little girl she kept seeing, the voice and noises only she could hear. She was connected with the little girl… a little girl whose name was CAL.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN - Sorry about not uploading a chapter last Saturday. My computer was having some technical difficulties and I had to send it away to get worked on. Well, here's the the next installment. So sit back and enjoy as we get ever closer to the end.**

* * *

Jenny couldn't believe it… the little girl was the computer or at least the computer program. But she had seemed so real; so life like. She vaguely heard River tell her dad something about the readings on the computer. What brought her out of her thoughts was The Doctor's reply. "I know. You'd think it was… dreaming."

"It is dreaming." said Strackman causing every head to snap over to him. "Of a normal life and a lovely dad." he continued as he pulled off one of his gloves. "And of every book ever written."

"Computers don't dream." said Anita as the little girls voice called out again for help.

"No, but little girls do." stated Strackman as he opened a control panel and flipped a switch with his ungloved hand. There was whirling and a sort of energy pulsed through the room as a panel at the back of the room slid open. Strackman ran in the direction of the energy with everyone else right on his heels. Behind the panel lay a whole other room filled with cables and computer circuits, but what caught everyone's eye right way was what sat in the middle of the room. A lone node, just like the ones upstairs, sat there with the majority of the cables plugged into it. The real surprise was when the node's head turned to face them and they saw the face of a child; the face of a little girl. The node's eyes opened and she called out for help. "Please help me. Please help me." Her voice was so desperate that tears began to threaten Jenny and even River's throats.

"Oh my god." gasped River.

"It's the little girl, the girl we saw in the computer." said Anita in shock.

"It's the girl I've been seeing… in the room… I've been hearing her this whole time." said Jenny and then added to herself, "And I can't help her."

"She's not _in_ the computer." said Strackman. "In a way, she _is_ the computer, the main command node." He looked up to the ball of orange and blue energy, which was now positioned directly overhead. "This is CAL."

"CAL is a child?" said The Doctor in disbelief. "A child hooked up to a mainframe! Why didn't you tell me this?! I needed to know this!" he yelled into Strackman's face.

"Because she's family!" Strackman yelled back. "CAL… Charlotte Abigail Lux, my grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her and all of human history to pass the time. Any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything and he gave her them all." as Strackman spoke a few tears escaped down his cheek, and everyone could feel his intense sorrow. Jenny had to swallow a few times to easy her throat of a tear full lump. "He asked only that she be left in peace, a secret… not a freak show." he finished his voice shaking.

"So you weren't protecting a patent. You were protecting her." said The Doctor his face and eyes softer as he stared from Charlotte back to Strackman. He knew what it was like to try to protect family and now that he had Jenny in his life that desire had never been stronger. He stared at Strackman with respect instead of annoyance.

"This is only half a life, of course, but it's forever." said Strackman as he drew closer to his aunt… closer to Charlotte.

"And then the shadows came." said The Doctor.

"Shadows, I have to… I have to save. Have to save." said Charlotte in desperation as Strackman gently rubbed her cheek as if wiping away imaginary tears.

"And she saved them." said The Doctor his voice just above a whisper. "She saved everyone in The Library, folded them into her dreams and kept them safe."

"Then why didn't she tell us?" asked Anita.

"Because she forgot." said Jenny her voice mimicking her fathers. Strackman nodded his head in confirmation.

"She's got over 4,000 living minds chatting away inside her head. It must be like being, well, me." said The Doctor now feeling a connection to this little girl.

"So what do we do?" asked River, ready to take action; to correct the wrong that happened.

"Easy." The Doctor said running from the room as the autodestruct announced that they had 10 minutes left. "We beam all the people out of the data core." he continued as everyone re-enter the room where Strackman pulled the switch. "The computer will reset and stop the countdown." He immediately began tapping away at a computer, but ran a hand through his hair as he noticed something important. "Difficult… Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer." He suddenly dashed over to a panel of controls and began pulled out cables. "Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer. She can borrow _my_ memory space." He was roughly pulled away from the console and came face to face with River.

"Difficult… it'll kill you, stone dead." said River, fear and urgency fresh in her voice.

"It Will What?!" shouted Jenny.

"Yes, easy to criticize." The Doctor replied to River.

"It'll burn up both your hearts. Don't think you'll regenerate!" yelled River.

"Dad, stop!" Jenny yelled as she joined River in trying to stop The Doctor's hands.

"I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing." he said as he tried to disconnect River and Jenny.

"Doctor!" River shouted at the same time as Jenny screamed, "Dad!"

"I'm right!" The Doctor yelled back getting frustrated that he was hindered to work fast enough. "This'll work! Shut up! Now, listen, you, Luxy-boy, and Jenny, go back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download,and before you say anything else, professor, can I just mention in passing, as you are here, shut up." The Doctor ripped himself from the women and ran back to then computer as River let out a frustrated growl. "Oh! I hate you sometimes!" she said.

"I know!" The Doctor yelled back.

"Mr. Lux, Jenny, with me. Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him!" said River as she tried to herd Jenny out of the room.

"No! I won't leave him!" Jenny screamed as she tried to push past River.

"Jenny." came The Doctor's voice but if was so mild that Jenny stopped struggling immediately. "You have to go. It's not safe down here and you promised to listen to me."

"But… dad…" came Jenny's shaky reply.

"I won't die. I promise you with both of my hearts, I will see you again later." The Doctor stared into his daughter eye and the look was so sincere and urgent that Jenny had no choice but to agree. "You better or I'll help River kill you." The Doctor gave a satisfied nod of his head. Just as they were about to run from the room, The Doctor grabbed hold of Jenny and gave her a hug and a kiss on her head. "Now, go." he said as he ran back to the computer. Without another word Strackman, River, and Jenny left leaving Anita and The Doctor alone. "What about the Vashta Nerada?" asked Anita.

"These are their forests!" said The Doctor running back and forth between the computer and control panels. "I'm going to seal Charlotte inside her little world and take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their heart's content."

"So you think they're just going to let us go?" asked Anita.

"Best offer they're going to get." said The Doctor.

"You're going to make them an offer?" Anita asked somewhat shocked that he'd give an offer to the enemy.

"They'd better take it, because right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. 'Cause, you know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying, and she never gave in and you ate her." The Doctor didn't even pause what he was doing. He lifted his sonic screwdriver, eyes still trained on the computer, and retracted the blind on Anita's helmet. Revealing the skeleton that now inhabited the suit. "But I'm going to let that pass." he continued finally looking over to Anita's suit. "Just as long as you let them pass."

"How long have you known?" asked the suit.

"I counted the shadows. You only have one now." said The Doctor coming and standing mere inches from the suit. A static beeping brought his attention to the suits neural relay and saw that it was flashing on its last bar. "She's nearly gone. Be kind." he said.

"These are our forests. We are not kind." said the suit.

"I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them. You are letting them go." he said solemnly as he walked back to the computer.

"These are our forests. They are our meat." replied the suit. The suit extended an arm and multiple shadows began to spread from the body… straight toward The Doctor.

"Don't play games with me." he said sharply whirling around back to the suit. "You just killed someone I like. That is not a safe place to stand! I'm The Doctor and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up." The shadows paused as the Vashta Nerada did just that; they looked up The Doctor and then quickly recalled the shadows. "You have one day." the suit said before it crumpled to the ground; the Vashta Nerada leaving the body. Without another word The Doctor returned to the task at hand.

While all that with The Doctor and the Vashta Nerada was going on, Jenny, Strackman, and River were barreling down a corridor till River stopped. "I'm going back." she announced.

"What?!" yelled Jenny as River was already hallway back the way they came.

"Stay with Mr. Lux, Jenny. I'll make sure that your dad keeps his promise to you." River yelled back.

"River!" Jenny screamed.

"We have to go." frantically urged Strackman as he noticed a few shadows closing in.

"I have to go back too." said Jenny as she followed after River.

"Are you crazy?! There's nothing you can do." yelled Strackman as he watched Jenny run away dodging the shadows.

"He's my dad! I'll never just abandon him when he needs help." she yelled as she rounded a corner and out of sight of Mr. Lux. River skidded back into the room The Doctor was just in time to see Anita's suit crumple to the ground. River ran up to the suit and fell to her knee, tears clearly evident in her voice; she had really like Anita just as The Doctor had. "Anita." she choked out.

"I'm sorry. She's been dead a while now. I told you to go!" yelled The Doctor casting a glance over to River.

"Lux and Jenny can manage without me… but you can't." she said rising up and running to The Doctor punching him in the face before he could say a word. The Doctor fell to the ground unconscious and that was when Jenny entered the room. She first saw what was left of Anita and a lump formed in her throat, but then she saw River standing over her dad's unmoving body. "What are you doing?!" she shouted the lump now replaced with growing anger.

"Jenny, we told you to run." said River whirling around to look at Jenny in disbelief.

"I did run… in this direction. Now, what did you do to my dad?" said Jenny kneeling next to him and putting a hand on the side of his face.

"Making sure he keeps his promise to you." said River as she quickly began to finish The Doctor's work.

"What do you mean 'keeping his promise'? River, could you, for once, try to make sense…" Jenny trailed off as she saw what River was doing. "River, you're not doing what I think you're doing are you?" she asked nervously.

"Jenny, you need to leave." River simply stated.

"No, you can't!" yelled Jenny, her growing anger disappearing as fast as it had started. She jumped up and tried to make River stop. "You heard what my dad said… you don't stand a chance… you'll die."

"Jenny, leave." River said her voice shaking.

"What are you not getting? I said you'll die at least my dad has a chance. Heck, I probable have more of a chance then you…" said Jenny trailing off again. "Let me do it." she quickly added.

"Not in a million years!" River shouted.

"I have the same genetic structure as he does, so maybe…" said Jenny trying to wrestle away the cables from River's hands.

"So maybe nothing, you are not coming near this thing. Besides, if I'm right, this is really, really early for you and don't have the knowledge to connect everything correctly." said River as she tried to bat away Jenny's hands.

"Really, it can't be that complicated. Now, listen…" was all Jenny got out before River punched her in the face too.

"You're just like your father… stubborn as hell." said River as Jenny's body crumbled to the floor unconscious.


	5. Chapter 5

Forest of the Dead – Part 5

River finished all of her calculations before dragging the still unconscious Doctor into the room where the Charlotte Lux node stood. She pulled out a pair of handcuffs and connected him to a near by pole. She couldn't help but smile at the cuffs as she went back and carried Jenny into the room laying her on the floor a few feet from The Doctor. River quickly went about ridding The Doctor of his screwdriver and set it, along with her screwdriver and blue book, on the floor well out of his reach. As the automated voice announced that there was only 3 minutes left River sat down the main command chair and began to work on the cables connected to it. She had about a minute of silence before the voice announced 2 minutes and The Doctor woke up. "Oh, no no, no, no. Come on. What are you doing? That's my job." he said frantically as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?" asked River playfully.

"Why am I handcuffed?" he said pulling on the cuffs. "Why do you even have handcuffs?"

"Spoilers." smirked River.

"This is not a joke. Stop this now. This is going to kill you! I'd have a chance. You don't have any." said The Doctor.

"You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I!" she yelled back in tearful anger but then added softly, "Besides, someone's going to have to look after her." The Doctor followed her gaze to his daughter and gave a sigh of frustration. "Why is she here? I told her to run."

"She's just like her father… stubborn and has a hero complex." said River with a small laugh. "I'm timing it for the end of the countdown." she said looking over at the clock. "There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way, it should improve our chances of a clean download."

"River, please, no." desperately said The Doctor.

"Funny this is, this means you've always known how I was going to die." said River her voice shaking with emotion. "All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you, the real you… the future you, I mean… you turned up on my doorstep with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the singing towers. Oh, what a night that was. The towers sang, and you cried." a tear made its way down River's cheek as the automated voice announced 1 minute. "Then when we came back, Jenny hugged me and wouldn't let me leave until she had fallen asleep. Neither of you would tell me why." she continued as more tears followed the first one. "But I suppose you knew it was time… my time, to come to The Library. You, Doctor, even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue." The Doctor looked down at the screwdrivers sitting on top of the book and made a lunge for them, stretching his arm as if willing for it to grow longer. "There's nothing you can do." said River as she looked into the desperate face of The Doctor.

"You can let _me_ do this!" he yelled, himself very close to tears.

"If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you and Jenny will no longer have a father." said River.

"Time can be rewritten." he said urgently.

"Not those times, not one line; don't you dare. It's ok. It's ok. It's not over for you and Jenny. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me and her, time and space. You watch us run." said River barely above a whisper now.

"River…" pleaded The Doctor.

"I am saving your life so that you can be with your daughter. Do you really want her to experience the pain and torment you have felt for years of being the last of your kind. You can't do that to her. Look at her and tell me that you could even considering doing that? And if, for some chance you do, I will bring you back from the dead and kill you myself" said River her voice going cold on the last sentence. The Doctor looked at Jenny and his hearts gave a great lurch. He knew River was right; he could never subject his daughter to what he had gone through emotionally. He looked back to River and his voice lost it's pleading tone and was replaced with desperation. "River, you know my name." he said as the countdown reached 10. "You whispered my name in my ear. There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could." he said tears filling his eyes.

"Hush, now." said River as the countdown announced 3 seconds left. "Spoilers." said River as the countdown hit 0 and she plugged in the main circuit connected to the chair and cables. It was at that moment that Jenny woke up as a bright light filled the room. The Doctor looked away with tears running down his cheeks while Jenny screamed, "RIVER!" Soon the light was so bright that Jenny and The Doctor had to close their eyes. Jenny was then plunged back into the computer world where she saw Donna sitting on the staircase and her husband, Lee came running through the door. "What's happening?" he asked.

"I don't know. But it's not real." gasped Donna as a bright light began to fill the room. "Nothing here's real. The whole world, everything, none of it's real."

"Am I real?" asked Lee.

"Well, of course you're real." said Donna flinging her arms around him as the room began to shake. "I know you're real. Oh, god." she said as an unseen force began to pull them apart. "Oh, god. I hope you're real." Lee tried to call out to Donna, but his stutter had returned and he couldn't get her name out. "I'll find you! I promise you, I'll find you!" yelled Donna as tears trailed down her cheeks. The light began to become over whelming even in this computer world. Jenny watched as Donna was pulled back. "Donna!" she screamed stretching out a hand to her, longing for a comforting hug after all that had happened.

"Jenny?!" Donna screamed back, shocked to see her there, and then she was gone. The intense light quickly vanished and Jenny slowly opened her eyes. She was scared to look at the command chair and see River's lifeless and possibly charred body. But when she did look all she saw was an empty chair; River's body had been completely disintegrated from the power and energy that had pulsed through the chair. Jenny just stared at the chair, no words coming to mind. She looked over to her dad with tears in her eyes and what she saw caused the tears to course down her cheeks. The Doctor was staring at the chair with a look of absolute, total despair. He was slumped up against the pipe where he was still handcuffed, but Jenny saw no tears in his eyes. It was as if the sadness he was feeling was so deep and hurtful that he couldn't express his feelings. Jenny crawled over to him and leaned against his chest, softly crying. The Doctor slowly lifted his free hand and placed it comfortingly around Jenny holding her close, their eyes never leaving the chair. Neither knew how long they sat there, time seemed to lose all meaning to the Time Lord and Lady from Gallifrey. The Doctor finally choked out for Jenny to grab his screwdriver then, once he had the device, freed himself from the cuffs. He slowly stood up as Jenny gathered up the blue notebook and extra screwdriver before standing up herself. The Doctor pulled her in for a real hug, turning Jenny's gaze from the chair to his chest, as he kissed the top of her head. River had been right; he couldn't leave her. He needed her to be safe and he didn't trust anyone else with the task. Jenny turned her head back to the chair and whispered, "Goodbye River." They slowly began to exit the room; The Doctor still keeping Jenny in a one armed hug. As they made their way back to the main room where the Tardis was parked, they saw that it had worked. Everyone was back, safe from the terrifying shadows for the moment. When they made it back to the main room they could hear Strackman running around the room saying, "He did it! He did it! 4,022 people saved, I can't believe it!" It was on the third cycle of his chant, that he noticed Jenny and The Doctor making their way through the room. "You did it!" he yelled coming over to The Doctor and wrapping him in a giant hug. "Thank you, thank you." he excitedly laughed with a smile as he also gave Jenny a big hug before running off.

"He didn't even notice that she wasn't here." said Jenny staring after Strackman, annoyed that he could ignore River's sacrifice.

"He'll figure it out eventually." replied The Doctor as something caught his eyes. "I think someone wants to give you a hug." He turned her to face the Tardis where both of them saw Donna exit. Jenny bolted for her and they collided so hard that Donna had to struggle to keep them both upright. "Donna! I'm so glad you're safe." said Jenny as a few more tears crept down her cheeks.

"Oh Jenny, of course I'm safe. I've had 'safety' lessons from the best." said Donna as she moved her gaze to The Doctor, who could tell that she had been crying. He just smiled and gave Donna a comforting hug of his own once Jenny had finally let go. "What happened out here?" she asked. "The last thing I remember is standing on that transport platform." Jenny and The Doctor took turns in telling Donna the suspenseful tale of all that had happened with in the last 3 hours. Donna began to tell her story, mostly for the Doctor's sake. "Why were you there, Jenny? You didn't 'die' too did you?" asked Donna.

"No, it was the shock from that security camera when we first arrived. Some how it gave me the ability to cross over to that computer world, but it was nice to know that you weren't really dead." said Jenny. "By the way, that guy, Lee, he seemed like a really great guy."

"Yeah…" trailed off Donna. It was a minute before she spoke again. "I have to find him." She stood up and began to walk off.

"I'll help you." said Jenny following after her. But The Doctor stayed right where he was; his eyes staring off into space now that he didn't have Jenny or Donna to look after. Jenny and Donna weaved in and out of the hundreds of people wandering about the room. It began to get rather tight as more and more people filed into the room to be transported out of The Library. "Oi, watch it." said Jenny as someone bumped into her and she dropped the blue notebook of River's that she had been holding all this time. As she bent down to pick it, she saw that it had opened to the first page. She didn't mean to read it, but at the same time she couldn't tear her eyes away. She just stood there being jostled by the crowd as she read. Jenny was so engrossed with what was written that she started when a hand rested on her shoulder. Her head whipped to the side, snapping the book shut, and came face to face with Donna. Donna gave her head a jerk over the to door where they could see The Doctor leaning against the wood. One look at Donna's long face told Jenny that she had been unsuccessful in finding Lee. They walked in silence over to The Doctor. "Any luck?" he asked as Jenny and Donna leaned up against the wood next to him.

"There wasn't even anybody called Lee in The Library that day." replied Donna dejectedly. "I suppose he could have had a different name out here but… let's be honest. He wasn't real, was he?"

"Maybe not." softly said The Doctor.

"I made up the perfect man. Gorgeous, adores me, and hardly able to speak a word. What's that say about me?" said Donna.

"Everything." said The Doctor and for a moment the mood between the three travelers changed to light heartedness. Jenny held back a laugh as Donna looked over at The Doctor in mock exasperation. "Sorry. Did I say 'everything'? I meant to say 'nothing'. I was aiming for 'nothing', I accidentally said 'everything'." said The Doctor trying to backpedal a little. Then all was silent between the group, the mood going back to somber.

"What about you?" Donna asked Jenny, pulling her in for a one armed hug. "Are you all right?"

"No… but I will be." she replied truthfully. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep in the dark for awhile though."

"Me neither." replied Donna with a half-hearted smile. "And what about you?" she asked The Doctor. "Are you all right?"

"I'm always all right." he replied as if it was a silly question.

"Is 'all right' special Time Lord code for 'really not all right at all'?" Donna asked.

"Why?" he asked.

"Cause I'm all right, too." she stated. Silence once again fell as they watched people teleported away. "Come on." said The Doctor finally, taking Donna and Jenny's hands leading them from the room. But what none of them saw was the man standing on the teleportation platform trying to call out to Donna, yet couldn't due to his serious stutter. All three of them wanted to leave, but The Doctor wanted to do one more thing before they left. They made their way to the balcony where they had looked out over the planet for the first time. Once they were standing next to the railing, The Doctor pulled the blue notebook from Jenny's hands and placed it on the railing. "Your friend, Professor Song, she knew you, both of you, in the future, but she didn't know me. What happens to me?" asked Donna as she looked from the book to Jenny and The Doctor. "Because when she heard my name, the way she looked at me…"

"Donna." The Doctor interrupted as he placed his palm on the blue book. "This is her diary; my future. I could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?" Donna thought it over before looking into The Doctor's eyes and said, "Spoilers, right?"

"Right." said The Doctor with a lopsided grin. He reached over and plucked River's sonic screwdriver from Jenny's back pocket and placed it on top of the book. Leaving it there as a monument to River Song. "Come on." he continued. "The next chapter's this way." With that they all turned and began to walk back up the stairway.

"I did read it." said Jenny softly. "Just the first page and it didn't tell me anything about my or our future." she quickly added at the looks her dad and Donna were giving her. "It said, 'When you run with The Doctor, it feel like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like The Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark, if he ever, for one moment, accepts it. Everybody knows that everybody dies… but not every day.' The Doctor pulled up to a sudden stop. His face light up and he ran back down the stairs and picked up the River's screwdriver. "Why? Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that?" he said as he turned the device over and over in his hands. "Thing is, future me had years to think about it. All those years to think of a way to save her and what he did was give her a screwdriver. Why would I do that?!" He pulled at a small component of the screwdriver and it revealed a neural relay device… and it still had two bars left. "Ohhhhh." he gasped turning to Donna and Jenny. "Look at that! I'm very good!" he yelled.

"Vain much." softly quipped Jenny.

"What have you done?" asked Donna, The Doctor's excitement rubbing of on her. The Doctor showed them the two bars. "Saved her." Then he took off running.

"I can't believe it. River's still alive!" said Jenny excitedly as she went to run after her dad, but Donna stopped her. "Donna…" Jenny complained.

"Let him do this alone." Donna replied as she watched him round a corner. Jenny gave a sigh and the two of them made their way back to the Tardis to await The Doctor. Meanwhile, The Doctor ran down hallway after hallway. "Stay with me!" he yelled to the screwdriver. "You can do it! Stay with me! Come on, you and me… one last run!" By the time he reached the gravity platform room, 'River' only had one bar left. "Sorry, River, shortcut." With that he disabled the gravity that held the platform in place and jumped head first down the tube, using the sonic Screwdriver to lessen the impact of his fall. Once at the bottom he ran into the room with the main control chair and pulled in the screwdriver without a second thought. Electricity sparked from the plug and the screwdriver as River's consciousness was transferred up and into the safe mind world of Charlotte Abigail Lux. After the electricity disappeared into the energy ball, The Doctor turned to the Charlotte node and both of them smiled. 20 minutes later, The Doctor was standing outside the Tardis doors. He stared at them for a few minutes then raised a steady hand and gave a snap. He gave a smile smile of delight as the doors immediately opened at that sound. He walked inside a gave a quick snap promptly causing the doors to swing shut. "Did you do it?" asked Donna at the top of the entry ramp

"Where you able to save her." asked Jenny from her position beside Donna.

"You tell me." he replied with a smile and motioned for Jenny to shut her eyes. Jenny did and she was immediately greeted with the confused face of Professor River Song. "It's ok. You're safe." said a voice behind River. It was smiling and happy Charlotte Lux as well as Dr. Moon. "You'll always be safe here. The Doctor fixed the data core. This is a good place now. But I was worried you might be lonely, so I brought you some friends. Aren't I a clever girl?" she said with lopsided grin.

"Aren't we all?" said a voice from behind again and both Jenny and River knew that voice. They turned and saw Other Dave, Dave, Anita, and Evangelista walking towards them, their faces brimming with happiness. "Oh for heaven's sake." gasped River. "He just can't do it, can he? That man… that impossible man. He just can't give in." she said running forward to embrace her friends. Jenny wiped a stray tear from her eye; beyond thrilled that River would live forever in a beautiful world with her friends. "Thank you, Jenny." said Charlotte, which snapped Jenny out of her thoughts.

"You can see me?" she asked.

"Yes, before I was scared and blocking everything out, but now I'm free and very happy. Tell The Doctor thank you, we shall never forget him or you." Jenny could feel a blush creep into her cheeks.

"There is something I have to ask. How am I the only one that can see into this world?" she said.

"It's because you're special. I don't know how but I can tell that you are destined to for great things." said Charlotte.

"Oh, well, thank you for the compliment. Another question." asked Jenny. "Will I be able to see this place forever."

"No." said Dr. Moon. "As soon as you leave this planet, the connection between you and Charlotte will be lost. This is goodbye." Jenny looked back at River, who was chatting away happily with the others.

"Am I able to touch them?" she asked hopefully.

"No." said Dr. Moon in a semi sad voice. Jenny gave a nod of her head. "Give River a big hug for me." she said to Charlotte and she opened her eyes leaving that world and its occupants to live in joy and peace. "Well…" The Doctor asked when Jenny's eyes fluttered open.

"She's there along with everyone who died to day. Charlotte brought them so River wouldn't be alone." she replied.

"That's wonderful." said Donna with a big smile.

"So, this means that no one really died. They were saved." said Jenny with a smile of her own.

"Yes, four curious, if somewhat nervous, astronauts and one very, special archaeologist." The Doctor added as he threw some switches and they were off to another time, another planet. They were off to another adventure.

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**Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed the adventure. Please tell me what you think by hitting that review button. Till the next adventure… Alonsy. :)**


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